Non-invasive forecasting of skin cancer evolution through longitudinal hair sampling
- 1German Cancer Research Center
Abstract
The ability to longitudinally track clonal evolution non-invasively would transform cancer interception strategies, long before late-stage disease when most cancer genomes are analysed. Here, we demonstrate that repeated hair sampling from the same individual followed by exome sequencing enables tracking of somatic evolution in vivo over several months after chemically induced skin carcinogenesis. We found that hair follicles accumulate a higher mutation burden than spatially-matched skin and harbour mutations that spread into surrounding epidermis and persist throughout tumour progression. DNA-damaged follicles enter sustained quiescence that delays replication and repair, creating a reservoir for long-lived mutations. During premalignant progression, carcinogen-associated mutations become enriched as follicular clones expand into adjacent skin. Mutation tracking identified genes that may govern tumour predisposition and initiation, many of which are mutated at high incidence in human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cohorts. Hair follicles therefore provide a non-invasive readout to forecast the early development of skin cancer, enabling patient risk stratification.
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BibTeX
@misc{frye2026noninvasive,
title = {{Non-invasive forecasting of skin cancer evolution through longitudinal hair sampling}},
author = {M. Frye and S. Del Prete and Y. Avi-Guy and F. Xu and S. Weser and M. Bekavac and M.-L. Koch and F. Coraggio and R. T. F. Coimbra and M. C. Popis and A. Heit-Mondrzyk and A. Goncalves and M. Behm and D. T. Odom},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.31.748188},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.31.748188v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Non-invasive forecasting of skin cancer evolution through longitudinal hair sampling
AU - M. Frye
AU - S. Del Prete
AU - Y. Avi-Guy
AU - F. Xu
AU - S. Weser
AU - M. Bekavac
AU - M.-L. Koch
AU - F. Coraggio
AU - R. T. F. Coimbra
AU - M. C. Popis
AU - A. Heit-Mondrzyk
AU - A. Goncalves
AU - M. Behm
AU - D. T. Odom
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/31
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.31.748188
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.31.748188v1
AB - The ability to longitudinally track clonal evolution non-invasively would transform cancer interception strategies, long before late-stage disease when most cancer genomes are analysed. Here, we demonstrate that repeated hair sampling from the same individual followed by exome sequencing enables tracking of somatic evolution in vivo over several months after chemically induced skin carcinogenesis. We found that hair follicles accumulate a higher mutation burden than spatially-matched skin and harbour mutations that spread into surrounding epidermis and persist throughout tumour progression. DNA-damaged follicles enter sustained quiescence that delays replication and repair, creating a reservoir for long-lived mutations. During premalignant progression, carcinogen-associated mutations become enriched as follicular clones expand into adjacent skin. Mutation tracking identified genes that may govern tumour predisposition and initiation, many of which are mutated at high incidence in human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma cohorts. Hair follicles therefore provide a non-invasive readout to forecast the early development of skin cancer, enabling patient risk stratification.
ER -